The fabrication of a semiconductor device involves a plurality of discrete and complex processes. One such process may be an etch process, where material is removed from the workpiece. Another process may be a deposition process, wherein material is deposited on the workpiece. Yet another process may be an ion implantation process where ions are implanted into the workpiece.
To direct the ions along the desired path, a system with electrical biased components, such as electrodes, is used. Some of these electrodes are maintained at relatively high voltages. These electrodes may be disposed proximate to other components which may be at a very different voltage. This difference in voltage between nearby components may cause arcing or a glitch in the power supply to occur. These glitches may lead to defects or degraded performance in the workpieces being processed.
Determining the frequency of these glitches and the energy of these glitches may be useful in determining when the system is due for preventative maintenance. However, many of these glitches are very short in duration and therefore may not be observed by a controller that only samples these voltages at a fixed sampling rate.
Therefore, it would be beneficial if there was a system and method for detecting and monitoring glitch energy and frequency. Further, it would be advantageous if the system allowed a controller, which samples these voltages at a predetermined sampling rate, to observe each glitch, even those that occur outside of the sampling window. It would also be beneficial if the controller was able to determine the energy of the glitch by observing the minimum voltage that occurs during the glitch.